El Paredon

“El Paredon”
Performance By: Caridad Sola, June 2012

Interactive water-gun installation where the power of creating and destroying is transferred from the artist to the audience as they are invited to shoot at her. The performance evokes the haunted final moments of Mata Hari, Gary Gilmore, and the hundreds executed at ‘El Paredon' in Cuba – to name a few. It further questions the use of weapons as toys and the human experience of participating in these games.

I asked for 6 volunteers and provided them with instructions. None of the audience or volunteer gunmen were aware of what was about to happen. The general assumption was that they were going to soak the artist in water, yet what really happened was a full-blown execution. The stunned audience gasped for air with the dramatic surprise of this bloody mess that felt all “too real” in that moment. My last words were the same as Col. Rojas, former officer of the Cuban National police who was shot to death on orders of Che Guevara, without the benefit of a trial: "There's the revolution, take care of it" and then he ordered the soldiers who were going to murder him: "Get ready, aim, fire."